Who is Katie Melua?

Katie Melua is the singer of this year's most successful album in the UK, Call Off The Search. Her single, The closest thing to crazy, evoked instant response among listeners. Here is what you should know about Katie Melua:

• She is 19. She is absolutely charming. A good looker and very articulate. And she is UK's new sweethearts, with a music album that has sold millions. There is never one more bemused by her popularity as Katie Melua.
• Call Off The Search, a light jazz and blues album from a humble, innocuous label has spiraled to the top of the UK charts for 18 weeks. The voice? Katie Melua.
• Katie's voice has been compared with Ella Fitzgerald, but she admits to being influenced a lot by Eva Cassidy, another sweet-voiced singer as Katie. Katie also composed a song for Cassidy, called Faraway voice.
• Katie is small of frame, has long brown hair, green eyes. She was born in 1984, in Georgia (part of then USSR), but has grown up in the UK.
• Katie says she had an 'outdoorsy' childhood, living in Batumi, a resort on the Black Sea coast, close to the Turkish border.
• She still stays with her heart surgeon father and mother, who is a nurse, in Redhill, Surrey. She spends her weekends with her boyfriend Luke. He has his own band.